Sklansky has it backwards

[IronUnkind]

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You're dangerously close to mistaking knowledge possessed and thinking ability are one in the same.

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I don't think they are, but I can see how you might draw that conclusion. Allow me to clarify. A very intelligent person may form an opinion on a subject which represents a flawless thought process; yet this opinion may still be false because there are some factors which he failed to take into account.

Smart people may believe or disbelieve in god for a lot of reasons which have little to do with "the evidence." Even Bertrand Russell agrees with me, saying:

You all know, of course, that there used to be in the old days three intellectual arguments for the existence of God, all of which were disposed of by Immanuel Kant in the Critique of Pure Reason; but no sooner had he disposed of those arguments than he invented a new one, a moral argument, and that quite convinced him. He was like many people: in intellectual matters he was skeptical, but in moral matters he believed implicitly in the maxims that he had imbibed at his mother's knee

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Also, saying "they think these things for non-smart reasons" isn't supporting any argument one way or the other. All it is saying is that the group of people David is talking about isn't actually smart.

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I'm not saying that anymore than Russell is saying that Kant was actually dull. Human beings, regardless of their IQ scores, are quite capable of inconsistency, especially in political and religious matters.

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David is implying that strong thinking minds have put some thought into this and reached this conclusion, not that people with reputations for being smart are just saying "religion is dumb" and not backing it up properly.

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It is not entirely clear what David is implying. The only thing he's said which is demonstrably true is that intelligence and religiousness tend to be negatively correlated. But the studies that present this evidence fail to demonstrate the degree of thought which has gone into the conclusions. I am suggesting that certain environments make it easier for one to uncritically reject religion -- university physics departments, for instance.